A settlement has been reached in the death of an inmate at Telfair State Prison who died in July 2023 after being left in a cage in temperatures that registered 105 degrees outside.

WMAZ News in Macon reported Monday that according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Juan Carlos Ramirez was left in a fenced in box on the prison yard for four and a half hours. Initially the Georgia Department of Corrections said his death resulted from natural causes, but a lawsuit brought by his family debunked that claim and it was determined that medication which he was on came with a warning about avoiding excessive heat while taking the prescription.

The lawsuit said Ramirez was taken to the prison yard around 10:20 a.m., and 20 minutes later began to feel the effects of the heat. He pleaded with guards to let take him back inside the prison, telling them he felt he was going to die. The lawsuit claims the correctional officers disregarded his pleas and the inmate tried to alleviate some of the conditions by removing his clothes, but that didn’t stop him from regurgitating and defecating on himself.

Around 3:00 that afternoon, officers called for medical assistance and Ramirez was taken to the hospital where he died.

Ramirez’s family has agreed to a $3.2 million settlement which they say will be used in part to support the raising of his child. The Georgia Department of Administrative Services will pay $1.2 million to the Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corporation who will use the money to acquire annuities for the child, and the balance of the suit will be paid to Ramirez’s mother and her attorney for setting up a trust for the minor child as well as pay for attorney’s fees and expenses accrued during the lawsuit.

The case was dismissed without prejudice meaning it cannot be refiled in state or federal court against the prison guards or the department.

Juan Carlos Ramirez was 27 years of age at the time of his death on July 20, 2023.